In the magazine and newspaper publishing industry, publications are typically labor-intensive requiring substantial effort and coordination from, among others, writers, editors, layout designers, art directors and publication managers. The managers direct the focus of the publication and coordinate the publication process to assure deadlines are met. The layout designers and art directors are concerned with the presentation of the publication, for instance, page organization or layout and image or art content. Alternatively, the writers and editors are primarily concerned with the textual content of the publication. In the effort to meet a deadline, each publication page can undergo numerous revisions from any of the above mentioned groups. Since many such revisions impact the work products of other groups, the revisions must not only be done timely but also must be communicated and coordinated with other work groups. Thus, for example, if the layout designers change a page layout such that the space for the text of an article decreases, then either the editor or writer responsible should be informed so that the article can be modified to fit the new allocated area. Therefore, it is desirable to automate such publication processes so that both greater productivity gains can be realized and, in addition, workers have tools more adapted to the work products produced in the publication industry.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,287 issued to Yamaguchi et al., an electronic document processing system is disclosed for laying out text and image data for a document. The system allows the specification of layout attribute data restricting the location of image data to designated areas within the document. The system also allows image data to be associated with a portion of the document text referring to the image. Thus, page layouts are generated in accordance with the image inhibition attributes such that each image and any related text are in proximity to one another.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,685 issued to Horvath, a publication processing system is disclosed. The system allows various publication departments to input publication data into the system via terminals and scanners. In addition, a layout terminal is disclosed allowing layout designers to create and electronically store layouts of publication pages. The system allows the layout designers to assign publication items to page areas and, optionally, to enter item identifying information which the layout terminal can visually display for indicating where the items are to be placed on the page.
Regardless of the above mentioned prior art, it would be advantageous to further automate the publication process. In particular, it would be advantageous to automate the workflow coordination and communication process as well as supply individual workers with further tools specifically designed for the publication industry.